Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Calhoun County, Illinois, has about 4,200 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the State's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court of Calhoun County. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Calhoun County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Calhoun County
The Calhoun County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Calhoun County. It reported 19 arrests for 2025.
One city in Calhoun County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Hardin, 765 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Calhoun County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Hardin: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Calhoun County Sheriff's Office: 19 for 2025, 44 for 2024, 49 for 2023, 59 for 2022 and 24 for 2021.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,171 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,171 in 2025 against 1,196 in 2024, down 2.1 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 603 arrests, against 680 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Calhoun County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Calhoun County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 5 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 7 beds, and it ran at 74 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office at ilsheriff.org/county/calhoun (page title: Calhoun County | Illinois Sheriffs' Association), phone (217) 753-2372, 3050 Montvale Dr, Suite D Springfield, IL 62704, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Illinois Department of Corrections lists its inmates at idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Calhoun County
For Calhoun County the place to look is the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at calhouncountyil.gov/departments/states-attorney, phone (618) 576-9013).
Illinois is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act, through the Illinois State Police. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Calhoun County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension, and it may charge copying only after the first 50 pages.
- An arrest by the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (217) 753-2372.
- An arrest in Hardin: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (618) 576-9013, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at calhouncountyil.gov (page title: FOIA | Calhoun County, IL).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Calhoun County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Calhoun County: Hardin. Kampsville, Batchtown, Brussels and Hamburg have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Circuit Court of Calhoun County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Calhoun County each year?
Hardin reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,171 between them.
Where are people arrested in Calhoun County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Calhoun County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Calhoun County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at calhouncountyil.gov.
Is this the official Calhoun County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.